Lao PDR: Government, UN and partners sign national MDG compact

Vientiane –The Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the United Nations and development partners signed a compact today in support of national achievement of a set of ambitious global goals to cut poverty and hunger.

The compact was signed at the close of a two-day high-level Round Table that provided a forum for discussion of development assistance, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and for the Government to showcase the country’s strategic development plan.

Lao PDR Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh opened the 10th Round Table providing a statement on the country’s direction in the key areas of peace and security, economic growth with equity and environmental sustainability, MDG achievement by 2015 and elevation from its status as a Least Developed Country by 2020.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark gave the event’s keynote address referring to a high-level MDG summit at UN headquarters last month: “The real test of the renewed MDG consensus evident in New York is in events such as this one, in countries around the world.”

"It is here [in Lao PDR] that partners decide to work together—to end fragmentation—and use these next five years to rally behind national priorities to achieve the goals,” she said.The Round Table, which convenes every three to four years, this year focused on the theme of ‘growth with equity,’ aiming to ensure development benefits to marginalized and vulnerable communities; financing of the social sector; attracting foreign investment that builds skills and sustains the environment; supporting infrastructure connectivity and integration; and strengthening government institutions and public services.

The meeting coincided with finalization of the country’s National Socio-Economic Development Plan covering the five years from 2011-2015.

In his closing remarks, the Round Table’s Chair, Deputy Prime-Minister Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, said: “We are grateful to all development partners for confirming their full support and for signing the MDG compact.”

Co-Chair of the meeting, Ajay Chhibber, Chair of the United Nations Development Group for the Asia-Pacific Region, said: “Laos is at a very critical stage in the final stretch to the MDGs, and needs the fullest support from the development partners.”

President Choummaly Sayasone praised the efforts of both the Government and the UN in holding the meeting at such an important time and met heads of delegation early Thursday morning to present the meeting’s outcomes.

The compact signed at the meeting also calls for the additional goal of eliminating all unexploded ordnance from priority areas of agricultural land over the next 10 years.